Empty Promises

|3| Not The Nicest Person

A/N: Recommend reading: Up to chapter 47

A few weeks had gone by since that day. Right now, school had just finished and, after bidding farewell to Kiara who had to stay for extracurricular activities, I made my way to the school gates.

However, as I was reaching the doors, I was interrupted by a voice calling my name.

"Hanami," he said.

I groaned internally and slowly turned around, already knowing who it was. We hadn't really interacted that much since that meeting. It was clear as day we were avoiding one another and I was pretty sure he was as displeased with this whole arrangement as I was.

"Yes?" I arched my eyebrows, a bit confused as to why he was calling my name.

Sure he was now my fiancé but I thought we had silently agreed not to talk about this, especially at school. So it was weird that right now, he had suddenly decided to call for me in front of everyone.

I could already feel the envious glares from certain students as well as bewildered stares. After all, why would the famous (L/N) Rui pay attention to a mere student like me?

"Are you going home now?" He questioned, as he motioned me to continue walking so we could get away from the student's stares.

"Yes," I replied dryly, my grip on the strap of my bag tightening.

"I'll walk with you," he gave me an uncharacteristic soft smile that threw me off guard.

"Since when are you nice," I spatted as we got away from the students' stares.

"I've always been nice, Ikari," he replied nonchalantly, his face going back to his usual unemotional state.

I frowned and stopped walking. Rui then turned around and arched his eyebrows.

"That's bullshit," the words came out of my mouth before I could even stop them.

"Pardon?" He raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"You heard me," I frowned. "I don't believe it. Up until a few weeks ago you didn't even know of my existence and when you finally acknowledged me, you weren't exactly the nicest person."

"I could say the same thing about you," he replied.

"The difference between us is that I was having a bad day," I defended myself.

"Couldn't the same thing be applied to me then?" He tilted his head.

"No," I simply replied. "Like I said, the difference between us is that I was mean one day whilst you've always looked down on everyone as if you were a superior being. So, answer my question. Why are you so nice all of a sudden?"

"You don't hold back, do you?" He pointed out quite dryly. "Well, seeing as you so desperately want an answer, I'll give you one," he sighed, as if he was already tired of this conversation. "I believe that now that we're engaged, it'd be best if we at least tolerate one another," he proclaimed.

"Right, like I'm going to fall for that."

"Don't be such a child," he rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not but I dislike this decision as much as you do."

"Then why don't you try to get out of this?" I pursed my lips.

"I have my reasons," he simply replied. "And you? I suppose marrying me wasn't on your to-do list."

"It's none of your business," I growled.

"I think it is," he chuckled darkly. "Maybe you're not familiar with the concept but this marriage involves the two of us, whether you like it or not."